Feathering paddle-wheel



(No Model.)

C. H. MGGREADY.

\ FBATHERING PADDLE WHEEL.

No. 482,455.` Patented sept. 13, 1892.,

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

CHARLES H. MCCREADY, OF WEST BRIDGEWATER, PENNSYLVANIA.

FEATHERING PADDLE-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,455, dated September 13, 1892.

Application tiled June Z3, 1891.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES H. MCCREADY, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Bridgewater, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steamboat-Wheels; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved steamboat paddle-wheel; and it consists in arranging the buckets of the same in a manner that when entering and leaving the water no upward or downward pressure Will be exerted on the wheel. This I accomplish by pivoting the said buckets and connecting the same to an eccentric placed on the wheel-shaft in a manner hereinafter described.

In the-accompanying drawings, Figure lis a side elevation of my improved paddle-wheel, which is constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of a portion of the same.

To construct a paddle-wheel in accordance with my invention, I pivot to the arms 1 of the same the buckets 2 in a manner that the same may be free to oscillate in their bearings. Attached to each of the journals of these buckets 2 is a short crank 3, which is connected by means of a jointed bar 4 to the strap 5, encircling an eccentric 6, the inner ends of said barst being pivoted to said straps 5. This eccentric 6 is secured rigidly to the Serial No. 397,252. (No model.)

Wheel-shaft 7 and is adapted to be rotated by the same. These bars 4 and cranks 3 are connected at each end of every bucket 2 of the wheel, and the said jointed bars et pivotally connected to an eccentric 6, placed close to the bearings 8 at either side ofthe wheel.

In operation the eccentrics 6 are so placed as to have each and every bucket in a perpendicular position, and thereby enter and lift the same vertically out of the water. By constructing a paddle-wheel in this manner the buckets will lift very little, if any, water, which is not the case in the wheels now in common use.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- The herein described paddlewheel for steamboats, comprising the frame having arms, a series of buckets pivoted to the periphery of said frame, short cranks secured to the ends of the journals of said buckets, cccentrics on the shaft of the wheel adjacent to the bearings thereof and provided with an encircling strap, and jointed rods, each pivoted at its inner end to said strap and at its outer end to one of said cranks, said eccentric being adapted to enter and lift the buckets ver tically into and out of the water, and said buckets being free to oscillate in their bearings, as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto affix my signature this 20th day of April, A. D. 1891.

CHARLES VI-I. MCCREADY. [L. s]

In presence of- M. E. HARRISON, CHARLES LARGE. 

